MAY 27, 1960

HYDE PARK
—The resolution proposed by the smaller nations in the Security Council of the United
Nations—designed to promote conciliation between the Soviet Union and the Western
powers—makes us hopeful that when tensions calm down a bit that something will really
be done by moving forward within the U.N. to stop spying. Eventually, it is to be
hoped, a treaty agreement, which would be binding on all countries, would give us
mutual security.

Nothing short of this will bring spying to an end, and so I think we should bend every
effort to accomplish such an understanding. Though the time to do this may not be
right at the moment, we should not allow ourselves to forget it.

An organization called CORE, which stands for the Congress of Racial Equality, has
just published a little booklet on the students' protest against segregation in the
South. Some of these youngsters, this brochure tells us, spent as long as 60 days
in jail for the crime of seating themselves—in non-violent protests—in certain restaurants
in stores where segregation is carried out.

The booklet has a foreword, headed "Only the Young and the Brave," written by Lillian
Smith. I will quote two paragraphs from that foreword, which may make you want to
write and get the booklet so as to read the letters of the students themselves. She
says:

"I was deeply moved by these stories. There is validity in them: and thoughtfulness,
and modesty, and a nice understatement. But courage shines through as do the high
spirits and
gaiety
and refusal to resent which turned some nasty ordeals into significant experiences,
and even into adventure."

And her last paragraph says:

"But you and I must help; first by understanding what non-violent resistance means,
what its possibilities are; and second, by giving these students our personal support.
They need money, yes; but they need even more to know that we are with them."

And certainly we know that some students in the North are with these Southern students,
for several of them were brought before the Un-American Activities subcommittee in
California, where the ridiculous assertion was made that this movement was organized
by Communists. When will we ever get away from this constant return to McCarthy tactics?

On Saturday night in Poughkeepsie I took some young people with me and went to the
high school to see the Mid-Hudson Regional Ballet Company give a dance called "Dancing
Waters." The dancers were charming young students of the Estelle and Alfonso Dancing
School, and the setting included a beautiful fountain made more lovely by playing
colored lights on the water.

This newly established school in Poughkeepsie teaches these youngsters various types
of dancing, and of course the audience was filled with mothers and fathers who were
particularly appreciative in watching their own children.